BIOTECH
Company that uses AI in drug discovery moving headquarters from NYC to Cambridge
A biotech that uses artificial intelligence to assist its drug discovery efforts has relocated its headquarters from New York to Cambridge. Insilico Medicine announced the relocation at a grand opening of the new office at 1000 Massachusetts Ave. on Wednesday. The company currently has 350 people spread across Cambridge, San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. While CEO Alex Zhavoronkov will be based in Cambridge along with other senior managers, only about 10 senior management employees are in the new office at this time. The company expects to rapidly hire more people and relocate employees to the area now that the office is open. Its largest recent backers include investment firms Warburg Pincus and B Capital Group. Also this week, the company announced positive clinical trial results for a drug that would be used to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. — JON CHESTO
HOUSING
SJC to hear Milton case next month
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit against the town of Milton for flouting a new state housing law will be heard before the Commonwealth’s highest court in October, legal filings show. The state Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments in the closely watched case on Oct. 7, according to the court’s public docket. Campbell is seeking a ruling against Milton for failing to comply with the MBTA Communities law, which requires 177 towns served by the transit system to create new zoning for multifamily housing. She filed suit in February after Milton voters rejected a plan that could have allowed more than 2,400 new homes. Because the Mattapan Trolley runs along its northern edge, Milton is designated as a rapid transit community and was among the first dozen communities in Massachusetts required to have a zoning plan by the end of 2023. — GLOBE STAFF
FINANCIAL
Mortgage rates continue to drop
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the United States edged closer to 6 percent this week to its lowest level since early February 2023. The rate fell to 6.09 percent from 6.20 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.19 percent. The last time the average rate was this low was on Feb. 2, 2023. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL
Bank of England leaves key interest rate in place
The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 5 percent Thursday despite a big cut from the US Federal Reserve, its first since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic more than four years ago. The decision was widely expected amid ongoing concerns about inflation within the bank’s monetary policy committee, particularly the elevated levels in the crucial services sector, which accounts for around 80 percent of the British economy. Figures on Wednesday showed that inflation overall in the UK held steady at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in August, still above the bank’s goal. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL
Numerous women allege they were raped by former owner of Harrods
Five women say they were raped by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed when they worked at the London department store, while more than 20 claim they were sexually assaulted by the late billionaire, the BBC reported. Al Fayed, a native of Egypt who died last year at the age of 94, took over the luxury department store in 1985 and kept it until 2010. During that span, he preyed on female employees he found attractive, promoting them from sales floors to work in his offices, the BBC reported, citing former staff. The assaults would take place in Harrods’ offices, in Fayed’s London apartment, or on foreign trips — often in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property, the BBC investigation found. Harrods, now owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, said it is “utterly appalled by the allegations” against Al Fayed. “We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologize.” Harrods said it has been settling historic claims of abuse by Al Fayed in the quickest way possible, “while ensuring that such behavior can never be repeated in the future.” Unlike during Al Fayed’s era, women are not being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements by current ownership. Al Fayed is perhaps best known outside Britain because of his son, Dodi, who died in a car crash with Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
CLIMATE
Green bonds do little to address climate change
Almost all green bonds issued in the United States fail to drive real action to tackle climate change, undermining the merits of a global market that’s grown to more than $3 trillion, according to a study. An analysis of the first green bonds sold by corporate and municipal issuers between 2013 to 2022 found that about 2 percent of proceeds were used to fund projects that are genuinely unique or don’t replicate existing work, Pauline Lam and Jeffrey Wurgler said in a working paper published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RESTAURANTS
Waffle House workers say they were continually underpaid
Waffle House, the Southern diner chain known for its smothered hash browns and open kitchens, systematically underpays servers, according to a union complaint filed Thursday with the US Department of Labor. The Union of Southern Service Workers said that understaffing and company directives to keep labor costs low have led to servers performing a “herculean number of tasks” off the clock or for wages meant for workers who also collect tips, even when the responsibilities — like washing dishes or stocking inventory — don’t generate tips. The difference can be significant; while the federal minimum wage is $7.25, tipped employees can be paid as little as $2.13 an hour. Officials at the Georgia-based restaurant chain, which is closely held and primarily operates in the South and Midwest, were not immediately available to comment. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Apple told by EU to open operating systems
Apple has been warned by the European Union to open up its highly guarded iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival technologies, or eventually risk significant fines under its flagship digital antitrust rules. EU watchdogs announced under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act that Apple must step into line with strict new laws on making operating systems fully functional with other technologies. The Brussels-based authority gave the company six months to comply, or face the threat of future penalties. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
Owner of Politico to be split in two
Axel Springer, the owner of Politico, Business Insider, and a portfolio of German newspapers, has struck a deal that will anoint its chief executive, Mathias Dopfner, as the undisputed magnate of a transcontinental media empire. The deal announced Thursday will split Axel Springer into two separate organizations. Mr. Dopfner and Friede Springer, the widow of the company’s founder, will assume full control of the media properties. And Axel Springer’s biggest outside investors, the private equity firm KKR and CPP Investments, will take control of the company’s lucrative classified advertising business. — NEW YORK TIMES